The 97th Academy Awards drew 19.7 million viewers across ABC and Hulu, marking a five-year high for the prestigious event. This represents a 1% increase from last yearâs 19.5 million viewers, with final Nielsen data adjusting the total from 18.1 million.
According to Variety, the awards show also saw a strong performance among adults aged 18-49, with its rating rising from 3.92 to 4.54âa 19% improvement over 2024âs numbers. According to ABC, the discrepancy in early reports stemmed from many younger viewers watching on mobile devices and personal computers, which were not initially counted in fast national data.